From the Association of American Publishers:
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for December 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for December 2023 were down 2.5% as compared to December 2022, coming in at $920.7 million. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.4%, at $12.6 billion for the year of 2023.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
Calendar 2023
Trade revenues were down 0.3%, at $8.9 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were up 0.4%, coming in at $3.3 billion; Paperbacks were down 2.0%, with $3.1 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 22.9% to $140.0 million; and Special Bindings were up 2.2%, with $210.0 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 0.6% as compared to 2022 for a total of $1.0 billion. The Digital Audio format was up 14.9%, coming in at $864.0 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 16.2% coming in at $12.9 million.
December 2023
Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 1.2% in December, coming in at $719.0 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of December, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 8.6%, coming in at $245.3 million; Paperbacks were down 7.2%, with $244.0 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 5.4% to $11.0 million; and Special Bindings were down 14.2%, with $18.1 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 16.3% for the month as compared to December 2022 for a total of $90.3 million. Digital Audio was up 24.5% for December, coming in at $81.9 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 7.8% coming in at $1.1 million.
Religious Presses
Calendar 2023
For the calendar year 2023, religious press revenues were up 7.8%, reaching $819.7 million. Hardback revenues were up 6.7% at $493.2 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 11.1% to $162.8 million, eBook revenues were down 3.3% at $53.8 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 8.5% at $45.6 million.
December 2023
Religious press revenues were up 0.3% in December, coming in at $60.9 million. Hardback revenues were down 1.6% to $36.0 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 3.9% to $12.2 million, eBook revenues were down 4.7% coming in at $3.7 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 21.7% at $3.8 million.
Education
Calendar 2023
For the calendar year 2023, Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $3.0 billion, up 3.2% compared to 2022.
December 2023
During December 2023 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $149.6 million, down 5.2% compared with December 2022.
Professional Books
Calendar 2023
Professional Books revenues for calendar year 2023 were $457.8 million, down 3.9% as compared to 2022.
December 2023
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 1.7% during the month of December, coming in at $37.4 million.
AAP’s StatShot
AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,240 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report.
StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.
Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.
